Come on, you can’t possibly still think that Facebook is a fad used by teenagers and stay at home mothers, do you?

If you’re teetering on the edge of the precipice, wondering if it is really necessary for your business to get social then let me give you five good reasons why your business needs to join the conversation.

1) 750 million+ users.  And that’s just on Facebook.  Every day more people are signing up and it’s here to stay.  I’m fairly confident that at least some of them would be interested in your product or services.

2) It is the most cost effective media to date.  At its most basic level all it really costs is time.

3) Outbound marketing channels are being dwarfed by inbound channels.  In other words, print, radio, TV, direct mail, billboards and all the other marketing clutter that surrounds us are being outclassed by social media.  For instance, who sits through TV advertising anymore when most of us pre record everything and fast forward through ads as second nature?  Direct mail usually goes straight in the re-cycling bin without its rubber band ever having been removed. But if you see something that has been recommended by someone you know on Facebook or you check out their business page and see hundred of people have already trusted them,  you are much more likely to trust them yourself.  It’s human nature.

4) The most common device used to check Facebook is a mobile phone.  Mobile search and traffic from mobile devices is huge and constantly growing.

5) Websites as we know them are already becoming polarised.  You either have an all singing and dancing site that practically replaces the need to have a physical location or you may as well not bother and just have a Facebook page.  Harsh but true.  Blogging will soon become the norm for every business.

The list is truly endless.  There’s no time to lose but equally, approach with caution.  There are pitfalls for the unwary and it isn’t for everyone.  But to my mind, it’s like saying, “I’m going to build a business empire that can take on the world but I don’t need any of that new-age nonsense called a telephone!”